Report:
The province makes botanical distinctions and names plants, as well as categorizing them as invasisive, obnoxious, or just 'non'-native. This categorizing as well as naming is a tricky business and often goes against what people experience in the field.
Patsy told me about her friend who wanted to make a book of a certain Alpine region and its plants, but she refused to use the new names, only wanting to used the old and 'popular' names, which would make it more accessable. As real botanist with a certain credibility, Patsy and her friends could not agree with this. Same way, we tuned in on a webinar from the Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation, which talked about downgrading a certain invasive plant, which according to Patsy and Manna just amounted to government 'giving up', they realize they won't be able to stop it, so they give up.
You see, instead of being an untouched 'natural' entity - existing separate from humans - nature is always constructed by human beings (and vice versa), amongst others by making a distinction between 'native' and 'invasive' species.

What?

Invasion looks at the (un)intended effects of the introduction of non-human actors on the landscape of Amiskwaciwâskahikan through the framework of settler colonialism.

Invasion is a mode of detonator's time, as coined by Anna Tsing in the feral atlas. It depicts how certain political-economic programs changed the earth’s landscapes without regard for earlier residents, both human and non-human. These programs arise from certain historical conjunctions, but they are not limited in time, they have lasting impact into the present, often beyond their intention.

Here, invasio asks what plants and infrastructure settlers introduced and what purposes they served; how each of these actors influenced settler’s conception of ‘nature’; and what role they played in the colonization of Amiskwaciwâskahikan.

Much of the landcape in and around Amiskwaciy Waskahikan is shaped by the introduction of plants by European settlers, either for pasture or as decorative plants. These plants become 'invasive' when they have no natural competitors and this way overtake the native plants, disturbing the natural habitat of lots of other species, and thus the ecosystem in itself.

To clear the land for agriculture, railways and other infrastructure, settlers cleared the grasses as well as the bisons that roamed these grasses, and as such the Indigenous people that depended on them for their livelihood.

Railway tracks and roads
Railway tracks and roads were introduced by settlers, as they moved westwards in north-America. These infrastructures connected different places to each other; opening up the land for settlers and transporting natural resources. As an unintended effect however, they also served as ‘highways’ for non-native plants to travel along and spread around the country, as well as hindering wildlife corridors and causing the death of many animals, whose natural habitat has decreased enormously. This way too, they enabled the colonization of Amiskwaciwâskahikan.

Today a lot of land is still cleared for industrial and agricultural uses, but also residential developments as well as recreational use form a threat, who disturb the animals and trample precious plants.

Oil infrastructure
Today industrial infrastructure, like pipelines, oil wells, pipelines, tailing ponds and open pit pines have a lasting effect on the environment, well beyond their closure. Not only have they polluted the area, during their use, but they are often abandoned when industrial activities have stopped. Leaving the cost for cleaning up these structures, to people who had nothing to do with them. We call the orphan wells and aging infrastructure.

Pasture grasses
Grasses like smooth brome, were introduced by settlers as pasture for their livestock. Not only did the cultivation of these plants necessitate the elimination of the original vegetation (the native plants of the parkland ecosystem), settlers in turn unintendedly created the perfect conditions for these grasses to spread around the country and replace even more of the original vegetation.

Decorative plants
In addition to introducing agricultural crops, settlers brought decorative plants from al over the world with them. These plants, introduced and cultivated for their aesthetic qualities, serve as a representation for the settler’s view on nature: a nature that Man can master and shape according to his will, regardless and detached from the climate it originally belonged to. This way decorative plants invaded our stores, gardens and idea of nature, replacing the old ideas, it presented nature as something malleable, ideal and commodifiable.

Conifer trees
Most of the conifer trees growing in parkland region and beyond are used for lumber and paper pulp. They are cultivated because they grow easy and quickly. In that sense they represent another view of nature: nature as a resource to be extracted through simplified monocultures. These tree plantations need to make money as much and as quick as possible, regardless of their effect on nature. The disturbed and simplified landscapes they leave behind equally facilitate the spread of invasive plants, further disturbing the landscape.